Pre-set sustaining hinge for toilet seats



Sept; 1, 1959 P. .1. SPERZEL 2,901,753

PRE-SET SUSTAINING HINGE FOR TOILET SEATS Filed July s, 1956 INVENTOR.

c irin ji fezfl United States Patent PRE-SET SUSTAINING HINGE FOR TOILET SEATS Peter J. Sperzel, Los Altos, Calif. Application July 5, 1956, Serial No. 595,967

3 Claims. (Cl. 4-240 This invention relates generally to sustaining toilet seat hinges and more particularly to a pre-set sustaining hinge which is tensioned at the time of manufacture rather than when installed.

My present invention is an improvement over the structure disclosed and claimed in my prior patent, Number 2,450,209, issued September 28, 1948, and entitled Hinge Construction for Toilet Seats. While my prior invention has worked satisfactorily when properly installed, it is apparent that it cannot be tensioned at the time of manufacture and also since the sustaining hook does not surround the entire circumferential area of the hinge pin, the actual tensioning of said hook is considerably more critical and requires more pressure than would otherwise be necessary. The principal problem that has existed has been the reluctance of the plumbers who install such seats on the job to tighten the anchor bolts sufiiciently ,to produce the required frictional resistance between the hooks and the engaged portions of the hinge pins. It is an object of my present invention to provide a sustaining hinge which overcomes the difficulties previously encountered with my prior construction by providing a sustaining hinge which can be pre-set at the factory by the manufacturer thereof and which provides a friction hinge in which substantially the entire circumferential area of the hinge element is surrounded by the cooperating supporting member in frictional engagement therewith.

More specifically, it is an object to provide a sustaining hinge for toilet seats wherein a pair of supporting members are provided which are securely anchored to the toilet bowl and provide in combination with hinge elements carried by the toilet seatunit, a friction hinge, the tension in which is pre-set at the time of manufacture and is completely independent of the force exerted by the means for anchoring said supporting members to the toilet bowl.

Another specific object of my present invention is to provide a sustaining toilet seat hinge which is capable of permitting the adjustment of the rear edge of the seat relative to the flush tank disposed therebehind.

For purposes of this application, the term sustaining hinge refers to a hinge which will frictionally retain the seat or cover in any desired raised position and will require the same to be manually moved from one position to another.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts through the several views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a toilet seat embodying one form of my new invention showing the cover and seat in partially raised position by dotted lines and in lowered position by full lines with a portion thereof broken away;

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Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the form of my invention illustrated in Fig. 1 and showing parts thereof in elevation;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view thereof taken substantially along the line 33 of Figure 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing an alterna tive form of my invention; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 through 3 inclusive, I provide one form of sustaining hinge designated by the letter A. This form is illustrated as used with a seat unit, including both a seat and cover element.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate an alternative form of my invention designated by the letter B, and the toilet seat unit illustrated includes only the toilet seat itself without the cover.

The following is a description of form A of my invention. Fig. 1 illustrates a conventional toilet bowl 10 having a rear flange 11 and a flush tank 12 connected therewith. The flange 11 has a pair of openings therethrough which are provided for attachment of a toilet seat unit. A toilet seat 13 having a rearwardly extending tongue element 13a is provided and the tongue element has a hinge pin 14 fixed to one side thereof and a split sleeve element 15 fixed to the other side thereof and aligned with said pin 14. The hinge pin 14 extends laterally of said tongue element on one side thereof to form a male hinge element for said seat. The sleeve element 15 also fixed to said tongue element extends laterally outwardly on the other side thereof from said pin 14 and forms a female hinge element. A male hinge element 16 is secured to the rear portion of the toilet seat cover 17. This pin 16 is provided with an eye 16a through which an anchoring screw 18 extends into the rear portion of seat cover to securely hold said pin 16 in fixed relation to the cover 17. A split sleeve 19 is similarly fixed to the other side of the cover 17 by the eye 20 and anchoring screw 21. It will be apparent that I have provided two cooperating pairs of hinge elements one being formed by the sleeve 15 and pin member 16 and the other formed by the pin member 14 and the sleeve 19.

Each pair of binge elements is received in a supporting block 22 having an aperture therethrough of a size to receive the outer sleeve elements 15 and 19. Said sleeve elements 15 and 19 are split and are sufliciently resilient to permit the same to be expanded slightly within the openings through the blocks 22 and a pair of tapered wedging sleeves 23 are respectively driven between the internally tapered surfaces of the sleeves 15 and 19 and the pins 14 and 16 as is best shown in Fig. 2. These tapered wedging sleeves 23 freely journal respective pins 14 and 16 but produce a precisely predetermined frictional resistance between the outer surfaces of sleeves 15 and 19 and the respective inner surfaces of the blocks 22. so that the sleeve 15 forms a frictional sustaining hinge for the toilet seat and the sleeve 19 forms a frictional sustaining hinge for the cover 17.

The lower portions of the blocks 22 are of suflicient size and area to firmly engage the top surface of the flange 11, of the toilet bowl 16 and are anchored to said toilet bowl by the bolt and nut assemblies 24 to securely hold said blocks 22 in fixed position.

In order to prevent corrosion of the metal parts, a nonmetallic cover shield 25 is provided around each of the blocks 22 and each shield has a pair of aligned apertures formed therethrough, one to receive the hinge pin and the other to receive the somewhat larger hinge sleeve. Said apertures closely surround the respective hinge elements and the bottom of said shields sealingly engage the top surface of the toilet bowl flange 11, as best shown in 3 Fig.2. It will be apparent, as best shown in Fig. 3,that the blocks 22 may be adjusted forwardly to provide additional clearance between the cover I7 and the flush tank 12 if desired, by inserting the hold down bolt assemblies 24 into a rearwardly disposed threaded aperture 22a provided :in the bottom portion of each of the blocks 22.

In form B of my invention illustrated in :Figs. 4 and 5., a toilet seat unit having a seat element 26Without a cover is provided and has a rearwardly extending tongue or flange member 26a. A pair of binge pins 27' are securely fixed in oppositely extending aligned relation to said tongue element 26a and are respectively received in a pair of split eye members 28. Saideye members 28, as best shown in Fig. 5, are split longitudinally downwardly through the shank thereof and said split portions are externally threaded to receive an internally threaded clamping element 29 which forms a supporting member having an internally tapered clamping socket formed in the upper portion thereof to receive the externally tapered lower portion of the eye 28. The clamping element 29 has a sufficiently large base to firmly engage the top surface of the flange ll of the toilet bowl and is positively anchored thereto by the bolt and nut assembly 30. A pair of non-metallic protective cover shields 31 enclose the eye and pin connection, as best shown in Figs. 4 and and each is provided with a pin receiving opening in the inside wall thereof to permit the pins 27 to extend therethrough. The clamping element 29 securely clamps the split eye 28 around substantially the entire circumfer ential area of the pin 27 to provide the desired frictional resistance between the inside surface of the eye 28 and the outside surface of the pin 27 and thus produce the sustaining hinge for the toilet seat 26.

vIt will be seen that I have provided, in both forms of: my invention, a sustaining toilet seat hinge which will permit either or both elements of a toilet seat unit to be retained in any desired raised position. The frictional resistance to swinging of the respective toilet seat elements is preset at the time of manufacture and need not be adjusted when the seat unit is installed on the toilet bowl. Also, it should be noted that the degree of frictional resistance is entirely independent of the tension in the hold down bolts 24 and 30 which need only be tightened suificiently to securely anchor the respective supporting members 22 and 29 firmly against the top surface of the toilet bowl flange 11.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which generally stated consists in the matter set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

'1. Ina sustaining hinge, amovable member such as a toilet seat and a fixed member such as a toilet bowl, a pair of hinge pins fixed to, said movable member and extending outwardly therefrom, a pair of externally tapered split eye bolts for surrounding and supporting said pins, means for producing a desired preset frictional resistance to relative rotation between said pins and said eye bolts consisting of a tapered clamping member threadably secured to said eyebolt, the tapered portion of said clamping member being adapted to engage the tapered portion of the eye bolt to tighten the eye bolt about said pin, and means for securely holding said eye bolt to said fixed member.

2. In a sustaining hinge, a movable member such as a toilet seat and a fixed member such as a toilet bowl, a hinge pin inserted into said movable member in secured relation thereto and extending laterally outwardly therefrom, a supporting member consisting of an elongate vertically disposed split eye bolt having an annularopening adapted to enclose and grasp substantially the entire circumference of said hinge pin, said eye bolt having a tapered external surface, the shank of said eye bolt being inserted into and secured to said fixed member and having a'threaded portion extending thereabove, and an internally threaded clamping element adapted to .threadably engage the threaded portionof the eye bolt shank extending above said fixed membeu'said clamping element having an internally tapered socket portion adapted to engage the tapered portion of the eye bolt to draw thesplit portions of the eye bolt together to obtain :a desired frictional resistance between the hinge pin and the eye bolt.

3. In a sustaining hinge, a movable member such as a toilet .seat and a fixed member such as a toilet bowl, a hinge pin 'fixed to said movable member and extending outwardly therefrom, an externally tapered flexible supporting member surrounding and grasping said pin and adapted to serve as the means for anchoringsaid movable member to said fixed member, a tapered clamping element threadably attached to said supporting member and adapted to adjust the grasping force of said supporting member to produce a desired frictional resistance to rela tive rotation between the .pin and the supporting member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 138,799 Gleason May 13,1873 1,826,564 Mix Oct. 6, 1931 2,500,594 Young Mar. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 580,161 Germany June '22, 1933 1,050,250 'France Aug. 26, 1953 

